Bubba Rom Dos IV, derelict and philosopher, sage and savant, stood
teetering at the edge of the modest group that had gathered around the
barbecue in the backyard of the country home of Bubba D'Shauneaux IV.
"To the legendary, mythological "Circle of Eunuchs." he declared, raising
his glass in toast to all around him. Whereupon Bubba promptly fell on his
sorry, drunken ass.
The small group laughed heartily, throwing paper napkins and dandelions
they picked from the ground upon his pitiful carcass.
"Bubba, the 'Circle of Eunuchs' doesn't exist-everyone knows that.",
Priscilla said, picking him up from his ignoble position on the ground.
"A complete fabrication for the dim of wit.", the Cowboy added, smiling
from ear to ear. "I'm surprised that a man of your renowned intellect still
chooses to spout that illogical babble."
"Then why, pray tell, are we all still alive?", Bubba replied, with a
sweeping gesture of hand that encompassed all gathered there.
All eyes turned to the Author, waiting for his reply.
"Because," the Cowboy stated succinctly, "we are mythical creatures, living
in the realm of mythos, and it is infinitely harder to kill a myth than to
kill a reality."
His statement was met with a resounding applause from the small group
gathered around him, and it spread to the larger group of guests who were
gathered at the back of the small cabin, though they had heard little of
what was being discussed by the small band of individuals that they
regarded as their saviors.
One of them cried out, "Cowboy. Where do we go from here?" The crowd
awaited his answer.
The Cowboy motioned the crowd toward the lake, and everyone walked silently
toward the shore, hand in hand, each lost in his or her own thoughts about
the events of the last few days and their thoughts for the future. Bottles
of 'Bubba Rom Dos' Private Reserve' were passed from hand to hand as they
each became seated at the edge of the lake, and the Cowboy walked to the
water's edge, gazing out over it.
He stood silently, looking out over the lake for a few moments, and then
turned to those gathered before him, saying, "There's nowhere to go."
Bubba, standing to the Cowboy's right, placed his hands upon Priscilla's
buttocks, and said, "Wherever you go, there she is."
This was met with a resounding roar of laughter and a barrage of freshly
picked flowers from those gathered at the lakeside. Priscilla smacked
Bubba's hands and he grinned sheepishly as everyone waited for the Cowboy
to continue.
The Cowboy smiled at Bubba and Priscilla, who were holding each other and
swaying slightly, at last comfortable with releasing themselves to feel the
affinity they had always shared. He cast a glance at Alexis and Jonathan,
currently involved in the self-same procedure of lifelong bonding.
Bubba had performed a special ceremony before the gathering at
D'Shauneaux's cabin, one which had submerged Alexis' conscious realization
of the special Yin-Yang relationship she held with the Cowboy, and freed
her to continue to develop her being with the one who would be her
life-sharing SoulMate in her present incarnation-Jonathan.
Upon completion of the ceremony, when Alexis and Jonathan began realizing
the close bond that was developing between them, the Cowboy could not stop
himself from remarking that he thought it unseemly that Alexis should be
consorting with a man six years her senior. Jonathan and Alexis had
watched, mystified, as Priscilla, Bubba and the Cowboy rolled on the floor
in laughter, with the two of them wondering why the others all seemed to
think that the Cowboy's remark was so hilarious.
"Nothing has changed.", the Cowboy began, once again turning to those
gathered before him by the shore of the lake. "Or perhaps," he added, as a
gentle afternoon mist began rising from the edge of the lake behind him,
"one could say that everything has changed."
"Perhaps," he continued, as the mist at the edges of the lake began
spreading, in swirls, across its great expanse, "the Lake of Life has begun
to turn over."
"Perhaps, the bottom is rising to the top, the top is descending to the
bottom, and everything is becoming the opposite of what it seems to be."
"Perhaps," the Cowboy continued, as he paced slowly back and forth, his
voice becoming an almost inaudible whisper which seemed to emanate from in
front of those gathered there, and behind them, and from all sides, "we
have all been saved by a small group of saviors."
He gestured towards Bubba, Priscilla, Alexis and Jonathan, and then toward
D'Shauneaux, who was just joining the gathering, in the company of Melissa.
"Or perhaps," he said, turning to face the crowd, one and all, directly,
the rough whisper of his voice now carrying softly upon the gentle wind
which was blowing in from the lake, shrouding them all in a fine, opaque
mist, "we were saved by the GrandMaster whom myth has foretold to be the
individual who would step forward when the time came where the Evil One
would make his bid for control over the souls of all of humankind, across
the face of the earth."
The Cowboy stepped forth into the gathering, and began pointing to first
one, then another, of those assembled there.
"Perhaps it is you, or you, or the little one…" , he paused to place his
hand upon the head of a small child being held in her mother's arms, "…who
is the GrandMaster. For legend has it that as long as there is but one free
man or woman on the face of the earth-a single person capable of holding
tight to free and rational thought-that there remains a 'cubic centimeter
of chance' that all of humanity can escape the bondage of the Dark Forces
which strive to imprison us."
The Cowboy continued walking through the throng of people, who were each
sitting quietly, hanging on his every word, and he proceeded, saying, "Or
perhaps it is all but a dream, and we will awaken in the morning, wondering
if it is at all possible that what we have seen, and experienced, in these
last few days, is real."
The mist arising from the lake had now enshrouded everyone in a dense fog,
leaving each of them alone in his or her private universe, as the Cowboy's
voice rose to a commanding pitch of certitude.
"Forget not, what you have seen and heard in these few preceding days. Be
not afraid to speak of the things you have seen and heard, to those who
have ears to hear-even though it will lead to others labeling you a fool,
spreading fables for the dim of wit."
"Pick up the torch which has been passed to you, and hold it high, though
it's burden may cause you to stumble and fall, and though others around you
may give up, in despair. For you are the Author, the Hacker, and the
Fool-and you are the GrandMaster who stands guard over the souls of all
humankind, across the face of the whole earth, and beyond."
"For as long as their is a spark, there is hope. As long as their is a
myth, then the myth can be made real, through faith, hope, belief-and action."
The gentle wind from the lake slowly dissipated the misty fog surrounding
those gathered there that day, as they looked at one another in silence,
realizing that the Cowboy was now gone and they were, once again, on their own.
Bubba Rom Dos IV stepped forward, lifting his glass in toast, declaring,
"Thus ends the Second allegorical meeting of the nonexistent 'Magical
Circle of Eunuchs.'"
He was roundly pelted with a fresh gathering of hastily plucked wildflowers
as he downed his toast to a mythical group which has never really existed,
and possibly never will.
As the group dispersed, amongst hugs and kisses between one and all, each
person stopped by the side of the lake, to gaze at their own reflection,
knowing that the time might someday come when they were the last free man
or woman on the face of the earth. And each resolved, within himself or
herself, that they would not die, asking plaintively, "Why didn't I do
something?"
FROM
The True Story of the InterNet
Part II
WebWorld & the Mythical 'Circle of Eunuchs." 'cyphernomicon.'